WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Wednesday is the last day the public can visit Rapids Mall.

Storefronts already are closed inside the mall, and the doors will be locked starting Thursday. Centralia Center and the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic will continue to provide services.

In August 2017, the John E. Alexander South Wood County YMCA and Boys & Girls Club of the Wisconsin Rapids Area announced a new partnership and intention to buy the Rapids Mall for the site of a new, shared facility. The sale was finalized Nov. 30.

The sale includes the mall at 555 W. Grand Ave., the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic, a vacant restaurant space that was most recently Patty’s Cafe and a former gas station and car wash space on the southwest side of the mall’s parking lot. The city will still own the Centralia Center.

Although the sale includes the VA Clinic, no services will be interrupted.

“The VA will remain in place and will be operating as it always has throughout the construction,” said Bret Salscheider, executive director and CEO of the South Wood County YMCA. “There will be absolutely no interruption to the VA Clinic during this time frame.”

The YMCA and VA Clinic will continue to communicate with veterans as the project progresses, but services should not be disrupted, Salscheider said.